From the Liveblog of
Sunday, December 24, 2023
Cabinet okays $20 million for boosting wildcat settlement outposts
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The cabinet approves NIS 75 million ($20 million) for bolstering infrastructure, including for security purposes, in wildcat Israeli settlement outposts in the West Bank, following pressure from the Religious Zionism party and its leader, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
The funds will provide some 70 illegal outposts — known in the settlement movement as “young settlements,” which have never been authorized by the government — with items including firefighting trailers, prefabricated bomb shelters, generators, field cameras, lighting, and rescue equipment.
The money will be transferred to the Settlements and National Projects Ministry, headed by Religious Zionism’s Orit Strock and disbursed by her ministry.
“It is a great honor to give minimal security to the pioneers of our day, who are deep in the territory and do not deserve to be fourth-class citizens,” says Strock following the approval of the funds, adding that “this is just the beginning.”
The dozens of settlements in question were established in the 1990s and early 2000s with the assistance of different ministries, including the housing and construction, defense, and energy ministries, but without formal approval from the government, meaning they are illegal under Israeli law.
